On Nov. 27 at D.C. Stadium, Washington equipment manager Tommy McVean realized he was in a pickle.
"We didn't have the nets up in '66, so now the score is getting higher and higher, and I'm running out footballs," McVean said with a laugh during the most recent episode of Hail Tales: Stories from Washington Football History. "I threw one of the old [kicking] balls to the referee, and the referee says, 'What the hell is this? And I'm like, 'We're running out of G**m balls, man. They're just kicking them in the stands.'"'
The Burgundy & Gold lost 14 footballs -- 13 on extra point attempts and one as part of a Brig Owens touchdown -- during what would eventually be a 72-41 Washington win against the New York Giants. The 113-point game still holds the record for most combined points in a game in NFL history, and Washington's 72 points remains the most points scored by a team in a regular season game.
Not unlike today, pigskins in the '60s were pricey. According to a report by Scott Allen of The Washington Post, balls went for $22.50 a piece back then, which means the Burgundy & Gold lost $315 worth of footballs during that historic win. Today that equates to over $3,100.
The total arguably could have been less had Washington decided to take its foot off the gas, but that wasn't going to happen during this game. In addition to the division rival factor, there was some personal grudges at play (more on that in the episode). Plus, all those post-Washington-score balls in the stands came with some added poetic burn.
"The football back then said, 'The Duke' on it which is the nickname of the Giants owner [Wellington Mara]," Allen explained. "This is happening against the Giants, and there goes your footballs, too."
Oof. Whether that game's scoring records will be broken remains to be seen but it's probably safe to say no team will lose thousands of dollars of footballs on extra point attempts ever again. Nets were put up behind the goalposts in the years after, a move that both prevented what happened in '66 along with dangerous fan scrambles.
